---
title: Therefore I ask in this court but a Christmas jest, for that it is Y… — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-Englis… · tree and pragmatics
description: Therefore I ask in this court but a Christmas jest, for that it is Yule-tide, and New Year, and there are many here. Who acts: I, jest. A sentence of «Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose» by Jessie L. Weston, Opening, part 2, with its dependency
---

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# Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, Opening, part 2, sentence 41

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Therefore I ask in this court but a Christmas jest, for that it is Yule-tide, and New Year, and there are many here.

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**Who acts:** I, jest · **What happens:** ask, be · **To what, where:** New Year, court, many

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This is a sentence of «Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose» by Jessie L. Weston, Opening, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, jest), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg66084:2:41
# text = Therefore I ask in this court but a Christmas jest, for that it is Yule-tide, and New Year, and there are many here.
1	Therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	ask	ask	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
6	court	court	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	Christmas	Christmas	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	jest	jest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
12	for	for	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
13	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	fixed	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
15	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
16	Yule	Yule	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	tide	tide	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
21	New	New	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	compound	_	_
22	Year	Year	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
25	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	26	expl	_	_
26	are	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
27	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	obj	_	_
28	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	26	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | present | I | New Year |  | this court but a Christmas jest |  | therefore *property* | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | present | jest |  |  |  |  | for Yule tide | tree rules |
| 3 | **be** | present | I *not said here* | many |  | here; there |  |  | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot many=Theme |

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One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose» by Jessie L. Weston, Project Gutenberg book 66084 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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